The trend in the bakery industry has been toward large bakery installations designed to serve a large area. This trend has been fostered by the need to achieve economy of scale, and has been achieved in large measure. However, large production of bakery products such as bread in a few centralized bakeries has produced a logistics problem associated with distribution of the bakery products so produced to market. It is necessary that the products be transported from the bakery to distribution centers or to individual stores and that the transportation be smooth, quick and efficient since the shelf life of the products is short.
The transportation problem is complicated by the fact that bakery products are bulky, have low density and are fragile. It has become customary to place bread or other bakery product on pallets which are then shelved in movable racks having multiple shelves. The loaded racks are then placed in trucks for transportation. The racks currently used are made of metal such as steel or aluminum and are welded together with braces for stiffening. It was thought that, in this way, the racks could be made strong enough to withstand the rough handling to which they are subjected on the warehouse floor. Unfortunately, it has been found from experience that no matter how strong and rigid the racks were made, they could be bent or otherwise mangled. to the point at which the pallets holding bread or other product would no longer fit on one or more shelves on the rack. This meant that a significant load-carrying capability was lost, a severe economic disadvantage. Another economic disadvantage associated with the current metal racks is that they are many times heavier than the product they were designed to hold for transport, meaning that the trucks designed to haul bread were, as far as the actual load hauled was concerned, merely hauling racks. As the racks became bent or otherwise tortured out of shape to the point where their load-carrying capacity was reduced, further wastage in transport capability occurred. The only way to mitigate the damage to the racks and the associated economic loss was to straighten the racks, an expensive, labor-intensive operation involving the use of welding torches, presses, hammers and the like. It was found that the life of the racks in useful service was undesirably short, particularly having in mind the expense in manufacturing the racks in the first place.
It is apparent that the industry needed a more efficient and less costly way to store and transport bakery products from the ovens to store shelves. The present invention is directed to providing a solution to the problem.